Give Your Brain A Boost

jdray writes "This story covers research into increasing cognitive function by passing small currents through the frontal cortex. It won't be long before everyone is wearing little battery-operated headbands to work every day. Maybe the'll be the next great fashion statement in singles bars, where increased cognition would be a welcome change."

Hmm... I've seen this somewhere before...

[Anonymous Coward]

Maybe we should get some battery operated headbands for Slashdot editors to improve their memory and reduce duplicate posts! [slashdot.org]

Either that or pass a LARGE current across thier balls each time they post a story without dupe checking ;)

Re:Hmm... I've seen this somewhere before...

[Geoffreyerffoeg]

Yeah, I first realized it was a dupe when the article link appeared in the black visited-links color.

ummm

[over_exposed]

Dupe? [slashdot.org]

Re:ummm

[Lord Prox]

...and in other news, excessive or long term use of the BrainBoost(r) brand memory jogger has been linked to tumors in the frontal cortex and dementia.

Apropos brain boost

[MarkGriz]

Here's a brain boost [imgag.com] we could really all use.

"trying this at home"

[araven]

If there's one thing about geeks, it's the need to try stuff that sounds like fun. Now running current through my head doesn't sound like fun to ME, but I'm guessing there'll be a few slashdotters for whom that would be just an evening's entertainment.

I trust that the authorities won't link the seemingly-coincidental scattering of accidental self-electrocutions and emergency room visits for forehead burns to overzealous /. reading.

~

Re:"trying this at home"

[CAlworth1]

Going along that line of 'fun', anyone read Larry Niven's Engineers of Ringworld?

An Excerpt [wireheading.com] talking about Louis Wu being a wirehead (one who is addicted to current coming into their head, stimulating the pleasure centers of the brain). This gives us brights, how about a new drug?

Re:"trying this at home"

[John Hasler]

I (accidently) tried this at home and it knocked me down. Maybe that was because I used an electric fence charger?

Re:"trying this at home"

[anonymous cowherd (m]

I wonder if this would work better while wearing a tinfoil hat...

Re:"trying this at home"

[lptport1]

How can I overclock my brain booster?!??!?!! HOW?!?@!

Oh, wait.

Lick a wall socket.

BRB.

Re:"trying this at home"

[famebait]

But seriously, has does anyone have access to the paper and can post what sort of voltage, signal, electrodes and placements you need to replicate this?

Raising the bar

[Odocoileus]

Great, as if outsourcing wasn't bad enough, now I have to worry about staying current with brain improvement technology or some dolt with headgear might come along and snatch my job.

Re:Raising the bar

[daeley]

now I have to worry about staying current with brain improvement technology

Sounds like this device "stays current" for you! ;)

At tenth level my brain battery gives out.

[infonography]

I as just about to slay the zombie corpse on level ten when I had to stop and replace the battery for my brain juicer. And I thought gameboys where lame.

Yeah, the chixxors will be lining up...

[nekoniku]

...to meet the guy with a headband full of battery-powered dangling wires on his head and a can of Red Bull in each hand...

Coming to an office near you.

[dickeya]

With the amount of current required to do this, 1/500th of an amp, why not start instituting it in the office space? A 20% increase in vocabulary performance could be quite beneficial in a number of occupations. This is, of course, that they prove it's not the brain equivalent of slow roasting a turkey.

Re:Coming to an office near you.

[node 3]

A 20% increase in vocabulary performance could be quite beneficial in a number of occupations.

Such as President?

You know, this might help explain the mysterious lump...

Re:Coming to an office near you.

[Alsee]

It resignates my brain... and embetters... I mean the analyzation misunderestimates 20% lesstimate....as much when I wear it.

-

Electroshock Supervillains?

[gtkuhn]

TFA said this "...fell from favour because of a perceived link to electroconvulsive therapy". Did electro-shocking mentally disturbed people create the insane geniuses of comic book fame? Does the electric chair make prisoners enlightened just before it cooks them? Are there any other great things I can do to myself to get any other cool superpowers?

Re:Electroshock Supervillains?

[Nos.]

Are there any other great things I can do to myself to get any other cool superpowers?
Oh there's a few things:

• Be in the vicinity of a gamma bomb explosion
• Get bitten by a radioactive spider (or is that a genetically altered spider now?)
• Be born on Krypton
• ...

Re:Electroshock Supervillains?

[Open_The_Box]

"Does the electric chair make prisoners enlightened just before it cooks them?"

Well... it's supposed to teach them a lesson they'll never forget, so...

Headband

[IMarvinTPA]

So, how much is a headband of intellect +1?

Hmm
IMarv

Re:Headband

[fbjon]

I can trade it for Coating of Protection +2.

Re:Headband

[Open_The_Box]

Your head glows red for a moment.

Re:Headband

[Macgrrl]

why settle for +1 when wonderous items come in all increments up to +5 :)

in singles bars?

[HughsOnFirst]

"in singles bars, where increased cognition would be a welcome change."

Don't get out much do you?
Diminished cognitive ability is what most bars are based upon. Either that or the opportunity to

• act

like an idiot with a plausible excuse / scapegoat.
Quite fun actually.
Coffeehouses on the other hand...

Re:in singles bars?

[HughsOnFirst]

Oh right, UL is unordered list, and U is underline, which slashdot doesn't support.
Talk about increased cognition being a welcome change...

Re:in singles bars?

[El]

Exactly! When I walk into a singles bar, I immediately scan the room for any women that are blind drunk and stupid. I certainly shy away from any female that can spot a loser from across the room! I assure you, the last thing I need is women with increased cognitive ability!

scientific ethics?

[my_fake_account]

"But once she had convinced them that the current was harmless, Iyer says, recruitment was not a problem."

It's an experiment-- she really didn't know that it was going to be harmless-- she hypothesized that it would be. It could just as easily caused permanent cognitive function loss.

Comment removed

[account_deleted]

Comment removed based on user account deletion

Re:couple of comments on this

[my_fake_account]

TENS has enough juice to fry your brain?

Then why doesn't it fry your motor neurons?

Forget the brain stimulator

[Muhammar]

Geeks have brain. Here's what is lacking: [cultdeadcow.com]

Oh great..

[lth]

So if you don't look dorky enough with a calculator and 5 ball-pens in your pocket, you can always tape a battery to your forhead.

Dark Side of the Moon Reference...

[wasted]

Were the words they remebered Games, Daisy, Chains, and Laughs?

I guess the long, dull current was the second experiment. When they tried short, sharp, shocks, the subjects wouldn't do the experiment again. Dig it?

Hmm..

[u-238]

With a name like Meenakshi Iyer, does anyone else get the fear that this is some kind of voodoo science from the East?

makes sense

[secretsquirel]

More energy brain has smarter it is,
evolution of brain limited by amount of energy available,
give brain more energy to make it smarter!

Then when you overclock it with coffe/"other stimulants" it will still have enough current to run. Though it might make you faster, you still void the warranty and manufacturers don't recomend it.